HOR

FRANCIS.

than to find that offence has been received when none was intended, and that pain has been given to those who were not guilty of any provocation. As the great end of fociety is mutual beneficence, a good manis always uneafy when hefinds himself acting inoppofition to thepurposes of life; because though his confcience may eafily acquit him of malice prepenfe, of fettled hatred or contrivances of mischief, yet he feldom can be certain that he has not failed by negligence or indolence; that he has not been hindered from confulting the common intereft by too much regard to his own eafe, or too much indifference to the happinefs of others.

Nor is it neceffary that, to feel this uneafiness, the mind should be extended to any great diffufion of generosity, or melted by uncommon warmth of benevolence; for that prudence which the world teaches, and a quick fenfibility of private intereft, will direct us to thun needless enmities; fince there is no man whofe kindness we may not fome time want, or by whole malice we may not fome time fuffer.

I have therefore frequently looked with wonder, and now and then with pity, at the thoughtleffness with which Tome alienate from themselves the affections of all whom chance, bufinefs, or inclination, brings in their way. When we fee a man pursuing fome darling intereft, without much regard to the opinion of the world, we justly confider him as corrupt and dangerous, but are not long in difcovering his motives; we fee him actuated by paífions which are hard to be refifted, and deluded by appearances which have dazzled ftronger eyes. But the greater part of those who fet mankind at defiance by hourly irritation, and who live but to infufe malig nity, and multiply enemies, have no hopes to fofter, no defigus to promote,

by infolence, or of climbing to greatness by trampling on others. They give up all the fweets of kindness, for the fake of peevishness, petulance, or gloom; and alienate the world by neglect of the common forms of civility, and breach of the established laws of converfation.

Every one muft, in the walks of life, have met with men of whom all speak with cenfure, though they are not chargeable with any crime, and whom none can be perfuaded to love, though a reafon can fcarcely be affigned why they fhould be hated; and who, if their good qualities and actions fometimes force a commendation, have their panegyrick always concluded with confeffions of difguit; He is a good man, but I cannot

like him. Surely fuch perfons have fold the efteem of the world at too low a price, fince they have loft one of the rewards of virtue, without gaining the profits of wickedness.

This illeconomy of fame is fometimes the effect of ftupidity. Men whofe perceptions are languid and fluggish, who lament nothing but lofs of money, and feel nothing but a blow, are often at a difficulty to guess why they are encompaffed with enemies,though they neglect all thofe arts by which men are endeared to one another. They comfort themselves that they have lived irreproachably; that none can charge them with having endangered his life, or diminifhed his poffeffions; and therefore conclude that they fuffer by fome invitcible fatality, or impute the malice of their neighbours to ignorance or envy. They wrap themselves up in their innocence, and enjoy the congratulations of their own hearts, without knowing or fufpecting that they are every day defervedly incurring refentments, by withholding from thofe with whom they converfe, that regard, or appearance of re

gard,

gard, to which every one is entitled by the customs of the world.

There are many injuries which almost every man feels, though he does not complain; and which, upon those whom virtue, elegance, or vanity, have made delicate and tender, fix deep and lasting impreffions; as there are many arts of gracioufnels and conciliation, which are to be practifed without expence, and by which thofe may be made our friends who have never received from us any real benefit. Such arts, when they include neither guilt nor meannefs, it is furely reasonable to learn, for who would want that love which is fo eafily to be gained? And fuch injuries are to be avoided; for who would be hated without profit ?

Some, indeed, there are, for whom the excufe of ignorance or negligence cannot be alleged; because it is apparent that they are not only careless of pleasing, but ftudious to offend; that they contrive to make all approaches to them difficult and vexatious, and imagine that they aggrandize themfelves by waiting the time of others in ufelefs attendance, by mortifying them with flights, and teazing them with affronts.

Men of this kind are generally to be found among thofe that have not mingled much in general converfation, but fpent their lives amidst the obfequioufness of dependants, and the flattery of parasites; and by long confulting only their own inclination, have forgotten that others have a claim to the fame deference.

Tyranny, thus avowed, is indeed an ~exuberance of pride, by which all mankind is fo much enraged, that it is never quietly endured, except in those who can reward the patience which they exact; and infolence is generally furrounded only by fuch whofe bafenefs inclines them to think nothing infupportable that produces gain, and who can laugh at fcurrility and rudeness with a luxurious table and an open purfe.

But though all wanton provocations and comtemptuous infolence are to be diligently avoided, there is no lefs danger in timid compliance and tame refignation. It is common for foft and fearful tempers to give themselves up implicitly to the direction of the bold, the turbulent, and the overbearing; of thofe whom they do not believe wiser or better than themselves; to recede from the best defigns where oppofition must be encoun

tered; and to fall off from virtue for fear of cenfure.

Some firmness and refolution is neceffary to the difcharge of duty: but it is a very unhappy ftate of life in which the neceffity of fuch struggles frequently occurs; for no man is defeated without fome refentment, which will be continued with obftinacy while he believes himself in the right, and exerted with bitterness, if even to his own conviction he is detected in the wrong.

Even though no regard be had to the external confequences of contrariety and difpute, it must be painful to a worthy mind to put others in pain; and there will be danger left the kindeft nature may be vitiated by too long a custom of debate and contest.

I am afraid that I may be taxed with infenfibility by many of my correspondents, who believe their contributions unjustly neglected. And, indeed, when I fit before a pile of papers, of which each is the production of laborious study, and the offspring of a fond parent; I, who know the paffions of an author, cannot remember how long they have lain in my boxes unregarded, without imagining to myself the various changes of forrow, impatience, and refentment, which the writers must have felt in this tedious interval.

Thefe reflections are still more awakened, when, upon perufal, I find fome of them calling for a place in the next paper, a place which they have never yet obtained; others writing in a style of fuperiority and haughtiness, as fecure of deference, and above fear of criticifin; others humbly offering their weak aflistance with softness and fubmiffion, which they believe impoffible to be refifted; fome introducing their compofitions with a menace of the contempt which he that refufes them will incur; others applying privately to the bookfellers for their intereft and folicitation; every one by dif ferent ways endeavouring to fecure the blifs of publication. I cannot but confider myfelf as placed in a very incom modious fituation, where I am forced to reprefs confidence, which it is pleasing to indulge, to repay civilities with appearances of neglect, and fo frequently to offend thofe by whom I never was offended.

I know well how rarely an author, fired with the beauties of his new compofition, contains his raptures in his own R 2

bofom,

bofom, and how naturally he imparts to his friends his expectations of renown; and as I can easily conceive the eagerness with which a new paper is fnatched up by one who expects to find it filled with his own production; and, perhaps, has called his companions to fhare the pleasure of a fecond perufal, I grieve for the disappointment which he is to feel at the fatal inspection. His hopes, however, do not yet forlake him; he is certain of giving luftre the next day. The next day comes, and again he pants with expectation; and having dreamed of laurcis and Parnaffus, cafts his eyes upon the barren page with which he is doomed never more to be delighted. For fuch cruelty, what atonement can be made? for fuch calamities, what al

leviation can be found? I am afraid that the mischief already done must be with-out reparation, and all that deferves my care is prevention for the future. Let, therefore, the next friendly contributor, whoever he be, obferve the cautions of Swift, and write fecretly in his own. chamber, without communicating his design to his nearest friend, for the nearest friend will be pleafed with an opportunity of laughing. Let him carry it to the pcft himself, and wait in filence for the event. If it is published and praised, he may then declare himself the author; if it be fuppreffed, he may wonder in private without much vexation; and if it be cenfured, he may join in the cry, and lament the dulness of the writing generation.

I

SIR,

TO THE RAMBLER.

Am always pleafed when I fee literature made ufcful, and fcholars defcending from that elevation which, as it raifes them above cominon life, mult likewife hinder them from beholding the ways of men, otherwife than in a cloud of buttle and confufion, Having lived a life of bufinefs, and remarked how feldom any occurrences emerge for which great qualities are required, I have learned the neceffity of regarding little things; and though I do not pretend to give laws to the legislators of mankind, or to limit the range of thofe powerful minds that carry light and heat through all the regions of knowledge; yet I have long thought, that the greatest part of thofe who lofe themselves in ftudies, by which I have not found that they grow much wifer, might, with more advantage both to the publick and themselves, apply their understandings to domestick arts, and ftore their minds with axioms of humble prudence, and private economy.

Your late paper on irugality was very elegant and pleating; but, in my opinion, net fufficiently adapted to common readers, who pay little regard to the mufick of periods, the artifice of conneion, or the arrangement of the flowers of rhetorick; but require a few plain and

TULL

cogent inftructions, which may fink into the mind by their own weight.

Frugality is fo neceffary to the happincfs of the world, fo beneficial in it`s various forms to every rank of men, from the highest of human potentates, to the loweft labourer or artificer; and the miferies which the neglect of it produces are fo numerous and fo grievous, that it ought to be recommended with every variation of addrefs, and adapted to every class of understanding.

Whether thofe who treat morals as a fcience will allow frugality to be numbered among the virtues, I have not thought it neceffary to enquire. For I, who draw my opinions from a careful obfervation of the world, am fatisfied with knowing, what is abundantly fufficient for practice, that if it be not a virtue, it is at least a quality which can feldom exift. without fome virtues, and without which few virtues can exift. Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the filter of Tenperance, and the parent of Liberty. He that is extravagant will quickly become poor, and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption; it will almost always produce a paffive compliance with the wickedness of others; and there are few who do not learn by degrees to practife thofe crimes which they ceafe to cenfure:

If there are any who do not dread poverty as dangerous to virtue, yet mankind teem unanimous enough in abhorring it as destructive to happiness; and all to whom want is terrible, upon whatever principle, ought to think themselves obliged to learn the fage maxims of our parfimonious ancestors; and attain the falutary arts of contracting expence: for without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.

To moft other acts of virtue, or exertions of wisdom, a concurrence of many circumstances is neceffary, fome previous knowledge must be attained, fome uncommon gifts of nature poffeffed, or fome opportunity produced by an extraordinary combination of things; but the mere power of faving what is already in our hands, must be eafy of acquifition to every mind; and as the example of Bacon may fhew that the higheft intelleft cannot fafely neglect it, a thousand inftances will every day prove, that the meanest may practise it with fuccefs.

Riches cannot be within the reach of great numbers, because to be rich is to poffefs more than is commonly placed in, a fingle hand; and if many could obtain the fum which now makes a man wealthy, the name of wealth muft then be transferred to ftill greater accumulations. But I am not certain that it is equally impoffible to exempt the lower claffes of mankind from poverty; because though whatever be the wealth of the community, fome will always have leaft, and he that has lefs than any other is comparatively poor; yet I do not fee any coactive neceffity that many fhould be without the indifpenfable conveniencies of life; but am fometimes inclined to imagine, that, cafual calamities excepted, there might, by univerfal prudence, be procured an univerfal exemption from want; and that he who fhould happen to have leaft, might notwithstanding have enough.

But without entering too far into fpeculations, which I do not remember that any political calculator has attempt ed, and in which the moft perfpicacious reafoner may be eafily bewildered, it is evident that they to whom Providence has allotted no other care but of their own fortune and their own virtue, which make far the greater part of mankind, have fufficient incitements to perfonal frugality; fince, whatever might be it's general effect upon provinces or nations,

by which it is never likely to be tried, we know with certainty that there is fcarcely any individual entering the world, who, by prudent parfimony, may not reafonably promife himself a cheerful competence in the decline of life.

The profpect of penury in age is fo gloomy and terrifying, that every man who looks before him must resolve to avoid it; and it must be avoided generally by the science of fparing. For though in every age there are fome who, by bold adventures, or by favourable accidents, rife fuddenly to riches, yet it is dangerous to indulge hopes of fuch rare events: and the bulk of mankind must owe their affluence to small and gradual profits, below which their expence must be refolutely reduced.

You must not therefore think me finking below the dignity of a practical philofopher, when I recommend to the confideration of your readers, from the ftatefman to the apprentice, a pofition replete with mercantile wifdom, A penny faved is two-pence got; which may, I think, be accommodated to all conditions, by obferving not only that they who purfue any lucrative employment will fave time when they forbear expence, and that the time may be employed to the increase of profit; but that they who are above fuch minute confiderations, will find, by every victory over appetite or paffion, new ftrength added to the mind, will gain the power of refufing thofe folicitations by which the young and vivacious are hourly affaulted, and in time fet themselves above the reach of extravagance and folly.

It may, perhaps, be enquired by those who are willing rather to cavil than to learn, what is the Juft measure of frugality; and when expence, not absolutely neceffary, degenerates into profufion? To fuch questions no general anfwer can be returned; fince the liberty of fpending, or neceflity of parfimony, may be varied without end by different cir cumftances. It may, however, be laid down as a rule never to be broken, that a man's voluntary expence should not exceed his revenue. A maxim fo obvious and incontrovertible, that the civil law ranks the prodigal with the madman, and debars them equally from the conduct of their own affairs. Another precept arifing from the former, and indeed included in it, is yet neceflary to be diftinétly impreffed upon the warm,

the